Stooges reaction to Punk Rock

The only band member I ever read any quotes from regarding Punk was Iggy, and even then only fleeting remarks. Does anyone know of any reactions from Ron, Scott or James at the time Punk first surfaced? (hopefully still available to be read somewhere.) I'm interested to know which bands they liked, what music they saw as derivative of The Stooges sound etc.

Ron said in an interview that he liked The Damned, when they first came out

Iggy seemed to like the punk movement at the time. Recruiting many punk musicians and defending John Lydon. He seemed to find the term "punk" quite derogatory at the time though.

I remember Ron saying he liked Nirvana. And was really glad something good had come along and was disappointed when Kurt killed himself. He also said he was annoyed at guitarists in bands like Pearl Jam getting loads of praise when he was a far better guitarist. But let's not get into an argument about if grunge is punk or not!

Don't know what Scott thinks but to be fair he rarely says much about things.

Ron quote from Perfect Sound Forever interview (nothing like as long as I remembered!):



PSF: What did you think of the punk bands at that time?

I liked some of the stuff, like the Damned. I said "Hey, I found a niche." But it kinda blew out quickly. Once again, because we didn't have the machinery to get a manager and get in a position of being a contender for a musical contract or getting our names known, that meant we were stuck. But we always played.



PSF: Did you hear a lot of the Stooges in punk?

Oh yeah. Then, it was even harder that some of the people who came from that and other bands from later like Pearl Jam would say "My favorite guitar player is Ron Asheton." The guy's maybe ten years younger than me. So he's a millionaire and I've got 100 dollars in the bank. So, it's great for the recognition but damn, I mean, I play better in the same style. I PLAY BETTER THAN YOU, MAN! But I didn't have the opportunities.



www.furious.com/perfect/ronasheton4.html

not that it really matters, but i notice he says "other bands from later like pearl jam would say" ... i'm equally a big fan of pearl jam as i am with the stooges and i do not remember any article or citing of a guitarist from any member of the band that said ron asheton.

It's great to hear the guitarist from the greatest ever U.S band namecheck the greatest ever U.K. punk band (in my humble opinion anyway): The Damned! It is interesting to hear these thoughts, because by the time punk (which was my route to discovering The Stooges) arrived, Ron, Scott and James had virtually disappeared off the radar.

Shakes wrote:

not that it really matters, but i notice he says "other bands from later like pearl jam would say" ... i'm equally a big fan of pearl jam as i am with the stooges and i do not remember any article or citing of a guitarist from any member of the band that said ron asheton.

maybe he just made a mistake, maybe he meant another band from that era?
I suppose he was making a kind of general point about 'alternative' bands citing the stooges as influence, anyway

I think it was Steve McKay who said that " When I first heard the Sex Pistols, I thought it sounded like Fun House ! I always though of myself as the first punk rock saxophone player!"

Nadja wrote:

I suppose he was making a kind of general point about 'alternative' bands citing the stooges as influence, anyway

i thought the same thing although sometimes statements can be interpreted differently.

On the South Bank show special on Iggy, Ron said that he didn't know what to think of The Stooges being credited as inventing punk but thought it was "pretty cool".